Month: February 2017

After back to back losses Bravos de FC Juarez return to midweek action tonight in Copa MX play. Bravos will face Rayados in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon tonight at 8pm MST. This will be the final game in group play for FC Juarez. The Bravos have already advanced on the knockout stage of the Copa. A win tonight would improve their seed in the single game elimination bracket, in the knockout phase of the competition.

In their most recent match, FC Juarez lost to Cimarrones FC by a score of 1-0 in league play Friday night in Hermosillo, Sonora. A match in which the team from the Borderland dominated in every which way but in the scoring line. The second loss in row for Bravos dropped them to 13th place in the general standings table of the Ascenso MX league. However, it should be noted that the Bravos are only 1 point out of the playoff zone with 14 points on the season(the top 8 teams advance to the playoffs).

Things are extremely close in the upper half to the general standings table. After 10 matches, the leader, Mineros has 20 points, 8th place Atlante is only 5 points behind with 15. One other teams has 15 points but is in 9th place due to goal differential. After that 4 teams have 14 points only separated by goal differential.

Up next in league play for Bravos is a home match versus Loros de Colima on Saturday evening. Loros is in 16th place out of 18 teams this 2017 Clausura season, setting up to be a perfect opportunity for Bravos to get another victory at home and get back solidly into the fight for a spot in the playoffs.

Bravos de FC Juarez was defeated by Dorados de Sinaloa by a score of 2-1 in matchday 9 of the 2017 Ascenso MX league at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium on Saturday night. The defeats drops the Bravos from 4th place all the way down to 10 place in the general standings table with 14 points on the season currently placing them out of the playoff zone. A costly defeat at home for FC Juarez to say the least.

Simply put, the match last night was a tale of two halves.

The first half for the team from the Borderland was the best opening 45 minutes that this soccer team has put together in all of 2017 in both league and Copa MX play, a total of 13 matches. The team was fluid on the attack, generated a significant number of chances to score. A thorough domination by the home side that resulted in a justified and well deserved 1-0 lead at halftime.

The goal for FC Juarez came in the 24 minute when Leandro Carrijo dumped the ball off to Sidnei Sciola who took a strike as the ball was rolling towards him from outside the box getting it above and past the Dorados goalkeeper placing the ball in the upper left corner of the goal.

Instead of the second verse being the same as the first as the home crowd expected, the performance by the team from the Borderland could not have been more different or disappointing in the second half.

Dorados would face a home side that come out entirely flat from the locker room and as a result dominate the entire 2nd half. It would only take 10 minutes for Dorados to score and tie up the match. From that point on the visiting team was closer to scoring the match winning goal than the Bravos. This would be the case for the remainder of the match until that effort lead to the enormous payoff when in stoppage time Dorados would put the ball in the back of the net for the win and a precious 3 points on the road.

After the game a dejected FC Juarez head coach, Miguel Fuentes, was forthright with the media. He said, “In the second half we stopped doing a lot of things. First of all we were not intense, they came out (after halftime) with greater conviction, and we gave them the match. That is the reality of things. A simple defensive mistake allowed for them to tie us. Then after that the turned the tide in their favor. I don’t feel they did anything special tactically they just had, once again I repeat, more conviction than we did to win the match.”

Up next for FC Juarez will be a road match on Friday night against Cimarrones in the state of Sonora. Cimarrones currently has 15 points on the season, good enough for 4th place.

Bravos de FC Juarez will look to make 3 wins at home in the span of one week. The Bravos will once again face Dorados de Sinaloa in matchday 9 of the Ascenso MX league today at 6 pm a Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium. Bravos defeated Dorados on Wednesday Night in Copa MX play by a score of 2-1. With a win tonight the team from the Borderland can move as high as second place in the general standings table.

As for how tonight’s match will develop, Bravos head coach, Miguel Fuentes believes it will be a different match from what took place on Wednesday night. Fuentes also commented on Friday after a light training session, “I feel my team is beginning to peak in various aspects, highlighted by an increase internal team competition in day to day activities that as a result has increased the overall level of the team.”

As for the strategy that FC Juarez will implement in this second straight match versus Dorados the head coach said the following, “We would like to think that what we seek to do remains the same match in and match out. We always attempt to implement our style of play. We need to be smart and just because we have home field advantage not just fall into the idea of carelessly attacking and leave ourselves exposed to a counter attack. We have to be smart for 90-minutes and remain calm. A lot of times the team will get anxious wanting to score and win the match in the opening minute.”

Bravos de FC Juarez defeated Dorados de Sinaloa by a score of 2-1 in group play of the Copa MX on Wednesday night at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium. The win clinched a position in the knockout phase of the competition for the team from the Borderland.

The thorough victory for the Bravos was a result of two stunning goals scored minutes apart by Lucas Da Silva (20th minute) and Diego Chavez (22nd minute). Da Silva scored the match winner in Ascenso MX play last Saturday (Bravos defeated Coras FC 3-2) in his debut with the team as he was a late acquisition for FC Juarez.

The goal for the visiting side came in the 52nd minute by Christian Lara. It has to be said the Dorados did their best to try and to, at the very least, tie the match. Dorados went on an all out attack for the last 10-12 minutes of the match and complicated things for Bravos until the sound of the final whistle.

FC Juarez has one more match in the group stage of Copa MX play on February 28th in Monterrey versus Rayados. The outcome of that match will determine what seed the Bravos will be in the bracket for the knockout stage of the competition.

As for league play, FC Juarez will enjoy one more match at home this coming Saturday versus the same team they defeated last night. Bravos-Dorados will kickoff at 6pm at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium. Obviously Dorados will remain in the Borderland for the remainder of the week preparing for the Saturday match.

Bravos de FC Juarez fought and persevered on Saturday night to defeat Coras FC by a score of 3-2. The victory gives Bravos 14 points on the 2017 Clausura season. The 14 points is currently good enough for 5th place in the general standings table of the Ascenso MX league. However this only tells part of the story regarding the standings table. The teams that are in 2nd-7th place all have 14 points and are placed according to goal differential and other tie breakers. The last team in the playoff zone (8th place), Celaya FC has 13 points.

Needless to say things are very competitive at the top in the Ascenso MX League.

The 3 points earned by Bravos on Saturday night might have been the most dramatic points that the team from the Borderland have earned so far this season. Bravos overcame 2 deficits prior scoring the match winning goal in the 92nd minute.

The first goal of the match came in the 22nd minute of the match by Oswaldo Guzman for Coras.

It would not be until 3 minutes into the 2nd half (48th minute) when the Bravos would be able to tie the match when forward Leandro Carrijo would score with a beautiful header off of a corner kick.

Coras and FC Juarez would exchange goals respectively in the 58 th (Daniel Rios) and in the 72nd minute (Christian Gordillo).

The match winning goal would not come until the 92nd minute of the match when Lucas Silva would get the ball passed Coras goalkeeper form inside the small goalbox. Lucas Silva made his debut with Bravos on Saturday night when he come into the match in the 69 minute for Arron Gomez. A memorable start to his tenure here in the Borderland for Silva to say the least.

After the match Bravos head coach, Miguel Fuentes commented, “Today’s victory was accomplished because my team fought, were determined, and showed unparalleled fortitude in order to do so…”.

Tonight when Bravos de FC Juarez face off against Coras FC a pair of undefeated streaks will be on the line. Bravos are undefeated at home in this 2017 Clausura season of the Ascenso MX league. In the 3 matches played at home, Bravos have won 2 and had 1 draw accumulating 7 points at home. For Coras, they have played three matches on the road and have won all three good for 9 points. Coras has actually earned more points on the road than they have at home (5 points).

Because of those wins on the road Coras comes into the Borderland in 2nd place in the general standings table with 14 points on the season. Bravos is in 9th place just 3 points back with 11 points.

It is critical for Bravos to take advantage of the next two weeks of league play as they will have rare back-to-back matches at home. 2 wins at home and they will solidly be in the playoff zone, an excellent way to start the second half of the season.

On Friday morning, FC Juarez had a light practice prior to settling into the team hotel as is customary 24-hours prior the start of any match home or away. Bravos forward, Mario Ortiz addressed the media after the training session had wrapped up and commented on all aspects of the upcoming match. Regarding bouncing back from the midweek loss to Potros de UAEM Ortiz commented, “We have to make this upcoming games at home count by taking advantage of the fact that we will have our home crowd supporting us and we look to start on a positive not tomorrow versus Coras.”

Ortiz also commented regarding the fact that half the teams in the league are so close standings, “While these upcoming matches may not be definitive, they are most definitely important being that a win will propel you up several spots but a loss will also drop you the same amount of positions which forces us to maintain a consistency in performance week in and week out give ourselves the best chance to come out with positive result.”

Commenting on Coras FC, the Bravos forward simply commented, “The are a complicated, dynamic team with interesting players that is gonna force us to be attentive in all aspects. However I feel it will be more important for us to execute our gameplan that we have prepared and that is more important that worrying about our rival.”

The match which will be the match of the week in Ascenso MX play will kickoff at 6pm at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium.

After a round of midweek matches Bravos de FC Juarez dropped 5 places in the general standings of the Ascenso MX league. Going into the midweek matches Bravos was in 4th place with 11 points on the season. The Bravos lost to the Potros de UAEM by a score of 1-0 on Tuesday night leaving them with 11 points.

With the results of the matches that took place on Wednesday to finish out the midweek round of play FC Juarez ended in 9th place, one place out of the playoff zone.

Up next for the Bravos will be back to back home matches in league play over the next two Saturdays with a Copa MX home match next Wednesday, March 15th in between.

The match that will take place this upcoming Saturday will be one of the biggest matches of the season thus far for the team from the Borderland. They will face 2nd place Coras FC. A win for the Bravos will put them back solidly in the playoff zone.

However it should be noted that 5 of the 8 teams that are ahead FC Juarez will be playing teams that are in the last places of the general standings, so aside from taking care of business on Saturday evening at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium the Bravos will need to rely on some ties and/or upsets to maximize their gain in the standings table.

Bravos de FC Juarez failed to, at bare minimum, salvage a tie Tuesday losing to Potros de UAEM by a score of 1-0 in the city of Toluca. This result leaves the team from the Borderland with 11 points on the 2017 Clausura season placing them in 8th place in the general standings table. The 8th position is the final position that advances to the playoffs. The Bravos were in 4th place prior to the start of yesterday’s match.

The lone goal came in the 66th minute when Jesus Henestrosa was left all alone one on one against the Bravos goalkeeper, Ivan Vazquez Medallo. The player for Potros found the ball at his feet after it bounced off of FC Juarez defender Gilberto Barboza. Henestrosa simply lobbed the ball over Medallo’s left shoulder for the score.

Up next for Bravos will be a match at home in league play (Ascenso MX), as they will face Coras FC. Coras is currently in 5th place with 13 points on the season and will play Dorados at home tonight in their midweek matchup. A win will give Coras FC 16 points on season good enough for 2nd place at they come to the Borderland this coming weekend.

The match will kickoff at 6pm on Saturday at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium.

Bravos de FC Juarez moved into 5th place in the general standings table after the picked up a road win on Saturday night. The team form the Borderland defeated la Jaiba Brava in the city of Tampico by a score of 2-1. The victory was good enough to give the Bravos 10 points after 5 matches in the 2017 Clausura season of the Ascenso MX, 3 points out of first place.

In the month of January the FC Juarez played 7 matches due to both Ascenso MX and Copa MX responsibilities. The arduous schedule resulted in the Bravos with 4 wins, 2 loses and 1 draw. This is a tally that has left new head coach for FC Juarez, Miguel Fuentes happy.

Up next for FC Juarez will be a home match in Ascenso MX play against Lobos BUAP Saturday evening at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium. Lobos is currently in 15th place with only 4 points on the season, a golden opportunity to capitalize versus a struggling team to tally up more points and improve in their standings.